In principle, according to the Energy Labelling Ordinance (EnVKV), household appliances that are offered for sale to end consumers, for connection to a rental contract or similar contracts, or are manufactured, must be provided with information on energy consumption, as well as additional information on performance.
In the case decided by the 8th Chamber of the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg, an advertisement for low-voltage lamps was objected to, which did not contain any additional information in accordance with the EnVKV.
In the opinion of the court, the obligation to label low-voltage lamps is based on line 6 of Annex 1 to the EnVKV in conjunction with Annex 1 of Directive 98/11/EC of 27.01.1998, where the lamps subject to mandatory labeling are defined as:
"Mains voltage operated household lamps (incandescent lamps and fluorescent lamps with integrated ballast) and household fluorescent lamps (including single and double capped lamps and lamps without integrated ballast)."
However, according to the OLG Hamburg, low-voltage lamps do not fall under this definition.
Only household lamps that are directly connected to the mains are covered. Such lamps, which - like low-voltage lamps - are operated by means of a transformer connected to the mains, which converts the mains voltage into a low-voltage range of 12 V and 24 V, therefore do not fall under this definition, according to the OLG Hamburg. According to the court, the transformer required for low-voltage lamps is a separate device to be connected upstream. Therefore, the low-voltage lamps were not directly connected to the mains and therefore not covered by the labelling obligation of the EnVKV. Lamps that contain an integrated transformer, on the other hand, must be labelled.
OLG Hamburg, decision of 19.09.2011, AZ.: 3 W 71/11
Goldberg Attorneys at Law 2011
Attorney Oliver Matschuk and
Attorney at Law Michael Ullrich, LL.M. (Information Law)
Specialist attorney for information technology law
E-mail: info@goldberg.de
